Post navigation

How Can You Make Your Business More Efficient?

In many areas of business, efficiency is one of the essential things you need to maintain. If you’re spending a lot of time and money doing things that aren’t required, this can detract from your overall profits and productivity. However, making your business more efficient isn’t as straightforward as it sounds.

Sometimes it takes some planning and tough decisions to enable your company to become more streamlined and focused. If you think that your company needs to become more efficient, here are a few ideas that can help you get started.

1. Identify the Problems

Before you can start making your company more efficient, you need to find out what isn’t working. It can often be the most challenging part of the process because it means you have to go through every area of your business and make sure that what your employees are doing is correct and that they’re not wasting any time on pointless tasks.

It is vital that you are open and honest with your employees about what you are doing as otherwise, this could be seen as a way of thinning out staff which could lead to gossip and unhappiness.

Go through each process in turn and assess whether it is necessary to the overall function of the company or whether it is merely being done because that’s the way it’s always been done.

At the same time, you want to look at the technology you are using and see if there are any alternatives which could speed up the process.

2. Eliminate Complexity

There’s one thing the modern consumer likes more anything else: simplicity. But with so many demands on customers time, they don’t want to be going through many different applications or websites to get what they want.

For that reason, it is important that you make ordering and purchasing as simple as possible. You’ll find an increase in sales as a result because some people may decide to click away if the process takes them too long.

For example, if your customers have to go through an intermediary or broker to make a booking, see if there is any way that they can deal with you directly through your website or through a mobile app.

This will not only make it easier for your customers but it will also make it easier for you.

3. Update Systems and Machinery

Even if you have the quickest and most efficient staff in the world, they will still be struggling if they have to deal with software or machinery that is out of date and slow. By incorporating things such as visual merchandising software into your production, you can speed up your processes and make it easier for your workers to get their job done.

There are also other benefits to updating your machineries, such as being able to offer new services or products.

However, this doesn’t just limit itself to what goes on inside the factory or the office; it also means keeping your website up-to-date and ensuring that you have the latest technology to stay in contact with suppliers.

4. Integration with Technology

There are some companies, particularly local ones, that may feel the need for technology doesn’t apply to them. However, even the smallest of companies can benefit hugely from integrating with technology, even in the slightest of ways. For example, if you currently don’t have access to social media through your company, then you could be missing out on many potential customers.

In the same way, almost every company now has a website of some description, so if your business doesn’t have one, you’ll be missing out on all of those who routinely use the internet to research companies.

In the world you are living in today, many people don’t have time to visit stores, which means they will often check out a website first to see if they have the type of products they need.

5. Create a Complete Solution

For some businesses, they see their role as more of a provider for a particular product rather than looking at things in the bigger picture. However, some customers might benefit from additional support or advice when it comes to how to use the product or other applications it might be useful for.

There are many ways that you can achieve this, for example, if you are selling furniture that needs to be assembled, you will have a guide with the product. But it might be even more straightforward and easier for some people if you created a YouTube video which showed the product being assembled.

Perhaps you can also add some alternative uses for your products on your website which could give your customers inspiration. It can sometimes be these small ideas they can make your brand more appealing to your customers.

6. Building a Community

With some companies, such as travel agents, there can be other things that can build a community and improve your brand status among customers. For example, if you have consumers who regularly use your services, perhaps you can have an online forum where they can post ideas comments and questions about them that others can see and reply to.

This can have a benefit in two ways: one, it allows customers to get access to help at all hours of the day, plus it could also take pressure off your customer services. While this might not suit all businesses, there are many which are beginning to set up these online forums as a way of answering questions and creating an online community for their customers.

When you begin to discuss efficiency within your business, many people often dramatically think of redundancies.

However, there are many other ways that you can make your company efficient and focused on the task without losing staff. If you get your employees on board during this process, you can also pick up a little insight into their jobs and ideas about how the process can be streamlined. With these ideas in place, your company can go on to grow and expand.

Question: Do you know any other ways to make your business more efficient? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Related

Takis Athanassiou is an IT Consultant, Blogger, Trainer & Writer, active in the areas of leadership, business consulting, e-Learning and social media. He aims at the development of people, business and assets! You can check out his blog, add him in Google+ and follow him on Twitter.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

[FREE COURCE] Do your know your Niche Market?

This is a small free course for helping you define with ease your target market. It is a small course for the entrepreneurs, business owners and freelancers want to learn more about their niche market and connect effectively with the people matter most to their business.

Awards

Books I Recomend

Supporters

Things I Like

About Me

Hi, my name is Takis Athanassiou. I am an e-Business & e-Learning consultant, focusing on providing you the best resources and practices for building an intentional and meaningful living, based on your initiatives, character, aspirations, and goals!

I help entrepreneurs, business owners and freelancers to develop the life and business they want leveraging their skills & assets and teach them how to use them effectively in order to focus on the things matters most to them!